Thanks for the reply, @eagle1 !
Regarding your question, are we biting off more than we can chew?; I’d answer not necessarily and point to your idea about winning locally as instrumental in order to reach the upper echelon of government. My point with this discussion is to frame a shared goal sufficiently, such that we can, as you have just done, allow the goal to implicitly and explicitly inform our broader discussions on strategies, instrumental goals, etc. You suggested affecting local government can build to national power, and move us towards a larger goal; you are already chewing. (Tangentially, here is an example of an organization following your suggestion).
The way I see it, we will need to address politics locally as you suggest, and we will also need to organize complementary if disparate objectives simultaneously. For instance, an organization affecting only local government is alone insufficient as an instrument for our ultimate goal, as is an organization affecting only national government, as are other individual organizations. What is needed is organized collaboration over as many aspects of naturally emergent initiatives as possible, including local initiatives, national initiatives, activists, academics, etc.
We don’t need to resolve our ultimate goal directly, nor can we; we can help to organize and coordinate all the interests which naturally emerge from the problem our ultimate goal resolves. We may also identify areas where work is lacking and share this information with relevant organizers. We may identify areas where collaborative organizations could better support each other. We could identify areas where collaborative organizations may be undermining each other (especially for potential unintended systemically complex results). There are many such benefits to wider collaborative organization, and those types of benefits are the types which I am arguing are needed most.
As an aside, you also make a statement about issues starting at the top; yet, I think my perspective is a bit different. I see these types of issues as not fully starting anywhere nor are they mostly determined by any one factor. I see these types of issues as complex, systemic, evolutionary, emergent, intrinsically interconnected, etc.